Go and Do Likewise
Proper 5
Luke 7:11-17
(And from last week: Luke 7:1-10)
The Gospel
reading from Luke for today follows directly after the passage we heard last
week. Both are healing
stories. We are in “ordinary time”
now, the long green season between Pentecost and Advent. And Jesus is about his “ordinary”
business of healing people.
Last week we
heard the story of the healing of the centurion’s slave. This week it is the story usually
called the raising of the widow’s son.
The healing, or resuscitation, of the son of the widow of Nain.
Especially as I
reflected on these two passages together, something interesting and important struck
me. It’s right there in the titles
we give to these two healing stories.
The healing of the centurion’s slave. The raising of the widow’s son. Yes, they are healing (or resuscitation) stories, but there
is virtually no focus on the person who is given new health or new life. The focus is on the centurion and the
widow. It’s almost as though the
healing, the miracle, is just a prop in another story.
I’m definitely not
diminishing Jesus’ healing ministry.
Jesus heals! And there are
plenty of stories in the Gospels where that is the focus, and where Jesus
interacts with the person who is being healed.
But in both of
these stories, Jesus’ focus and interaction is not primarily with the person
being healed. (In last week’s story,
Jesus doesn’t even ever see the slave who is healed!).
Today’s story begins
with Jesus’ compassion for the mother.
That’s what sets this story in motion. He had compassion for her loss at her son’s death. But also remember she was a widow and
this young man was her only son.
Without a man to protect and care for her, in that society she was
totally bereft without any hope.
Jesus saw that and had compassion on her. Notice also that when the young man is restored to life,
Jesus’ action is to return him to his mother. The point of this story is Jesus’ care for the mother.
If you remember
last week’s reading, it’s about a Roman centurion. A Roman centurion sends to Jesus because, as Luke says, a
slave whom he “valued highly” was “ill and close to death.” Remember, this is a Roman, not a
Jew. The whole passage is about
the dynamic between the centurion and Jesus. Jesus never enters the centurion’s house, never even sees
the slave… but heals him from afar.
At least in
these two stories, let’s not let the miracle distract us from the message,
which lies in Jesus’ interaction with the centurion and the widow.
This is important
because we are the Body of Christ.
We are the hands, the voice, the action, of Jesus in the world
today. And we look to Jesus as a
model for what we are called to be and do. These stories are not just about what JESUS DID, they are about
what WE SHOULD DO today. So we
look to Jesus’ actions with respect to the centurion and the widow to learn what
it means to be the Body of Christ today.
The story about
the centurion is interesting. He
is not a Jew. He is a Gentile, a
foreigner, not of the heritage or faith of Jesus. He was a pagan, not a child of Abraham. He sent intermediaries to talk to Jesus. First, he sent Jews to persuade Jesus
that, although he did not share their faith, he was a “friend to Jews,” he
supported Jews and helped build their synagogue. Then later he sent friends of his to say that, although he
did not feel worthy to have Jesus under his roof, as a man of power, he
respected Jesus’ power. He
recognized and respected Jesus’ power and hoped that Jesus would offer that
power to help him. Maybe he felt
some yearning to know Jesus as the Son of God. We don’t know.
The centurion was
a foreigner of uncertain faith whom Jesus had never met. And Jesus helped him. The centurion was a foreigner of
uncertain faith whom Jesus had never met.
And Jesus helped him. Jesus
might say to the Body of Christ today: Go and do likewise.
Today’s story is
a story of Jesus’ “active compassion.”
Notice that no one asks Jesus to help. Not the widow, no matter how profound her loss or how
precarious her social situation.
No one in the crowd. Jesus
recognizes her deep need and acts.
He does what he can to alleviate suffering. Maybe we, as the Body of Christ today, can’t restore the
dead to life on a regular basis, but we have the
power to help. We have the power
to save people from death, to respond to needs around us, to ease suffering in
our world. We can act with active
compassion. Do not wait to be
asked.
We can do what Jesus did for the centurion
and for the widow. Go and do what Jesus did. We are the Body of Christ.
